FRANKLY SPEAKING BY FRANK LEGATO
Rampages and Cons
Once in a while , the lead sentence in a news piece will just grab you and make you want to learn more . Like this one , from the New York Post :
“ An out-of-control Long Island man went on a buck-naked rampage in Sin City , allegedly slugging a one-legged man before streaking into a casino .” They had me at “ buck-naked rampage .” I try to take in as many buck-naked rampages as I can . In fact , if there was a Broadway play called Buck-Naked Rampage , I ’ d probably go see it .
But there ’ s more . After he “ streaked ” into the casino , according to the article , he was caught on video “ flaunting his genitalia while gyrating ” on top of a poker table .
I hate when that happens . There ’ s a pile of chips in the middle of the table , and you land the straight flush on the river , and just about when you ’ re ready to go all-in , there ’ s some hairy wild man bumping and grinding , and scattering the chips .
Anyway , security guards were eventually able to wrestle him to the ground . ( Very carefully , I ’ m guessing .) He was gyrated to the slammer and charged with disorderly conduct and indecent exposure .
Police said the guy was in an “ altered mental state .” According to KVVU-TV News , after he was arrested , the 35- year-old wild man claimed he had no memory of his poker-table twerk . ( I really hate when that happens .)
I wonder if they finished the poker hand . I hope they at least hosed down the table afterward .
Moving on , what in the name of Dionysus and John Denver is going on with these people who have been carrying sacks of cash out of casino cages ?
( What , you never heard of that expression ? You have something against John Denver ?)
There have been multiple stories of casino employees who claim they got a phone call or text from , they thought , one of their bosses , who instructed they grab hundreds of thousands in cash out of the cage and deliver it somewhere off property .
The first time this happened , the lady claimed someone who sounded like an “ executive ” told her it was vital that she deliver a heap of cash to satisfy some debt , and to deliver it to a gas station parking lot . ( You know , like you do .) I remember reading she thought she could be in trouble as she drove back to work . That was right before she got arrested .
Now comes this story where a cage supervisor at the Eureka Casino Resort removed $ 250,000 from the cage and , according to 8 News Now in Las Vegas , “ drove to Las Vegas to deliver the money to a person who she believed was owed money for hand sanitizer .”
Yes . A quarter million dollars worth of hand sanitizer . There must have been some serious grimy , parasite-infected sludge going on around this casino cage . Or , she just made it up . Either way , get this :
She delivered the hand-sanitizer bulk fee to ... wait for it ... a gas station parking lot .
What is it with gas station parking lots that makes them a good location to unload sacks of cash from a casino cage ? Beyond that , how can a reasonable person think these employees could ever hear instructions to deliver cash to a gas station parking lot down the street from the casino , and respond , “ OK ! You ’ re the boss ! I ’ ll put the money bags in my trunk . Dumm-dee-dumm ...”
In this case , the story goes , someone called the supervisor and asked her to look for a check made out to a vendor that was in the cage . When , remarkably , there was no check at the cage , the mystery man told her to take out the cash , which she delivered in a cardboard box . ( I would have gone with burlap sacks , but hey , that ’ s just me .) When she got there , a cloak-and-dagger bit ensued . Her phone rang , and she was told to put $ 15,000 into a bitcoin machine , but the bitcoin machine was out of order . Isn ’ t that always the way ? She claims she was then told to deliver the cash to another gas station . No word on whether there was a bitcoin machine there . But I think they had Slurpees .
In the end , this scheme and several others were attributed to one Erik Gutierrez-Martinez . He was the guy in the gas station parking lots here and apparently near several other Nevada casinos . Allegedly , he ’ s done this same scam at casinos in Las Vegas , Mesquite and Laughlin . He was arrested with bundles of money from the Circa .
I get all that . It ’ s the defense strategy I can ’ t fathom . Two hundred fifty thousand dollars for hand sanitizer .
I hope they sent some of it to that poker table .
52 Global Gaming Business SEPTEMBER 2023